We have an eight-member task force advising Council of various aspects of reopening. You can send an email to reopen@stmatthew-lutheran.org and it will go to the task force.’Let us know your thoughts and preferences.
Council President: We are in the age of Zoom at St. Matthew.
Greetings All,
We are in the age of Zoom at St. Matthew. Worship services are on Zoom, we have Zoom Bible studies, and Council is meeting virtually with Zoom. Your ministry, too, can use the St. Matthew Zoom account to meet virtually; just coordinate with Kim Bohley in our office. Many thanks to Kim, Tom Cassel, Karen Widin and all those who are making our virtual communications work. At the June Council Meeting there was great discussion of the congregation meeting again in-person. Some outcomes were:
- We are considering some creative ways of serving Holy Communion again, safely. One promising option is at very small (10 person) dedicated communion services, probably not on Sundays.
- That’s as fast as we are able to make plans, we pray that the virus is not even faster, but know that everything is rapidly evolving.
Pastor Peggy and myself are hosting Q&A sessions (call in or Zoom) to listen to feedback and answer questions.
Our Social Ministry requested that Council consider an anti-racism statement for our congregation. Social Ministry will prepare an item on racism for the next Council Meeting (See pg. 8 for more info).
Other news is that we honored our graduating high school seniors at our Sunday, June 14 virtual worship service. We had a picture of each graduate, and they had an opportunity to say hello and tell us their plans.
Council officially set a date for a congregation meeting in September to present reports and elect council members on September 27th. Given the fluid picture as we emerge from our homes, Council also plans to meet July 20th to handle anticipated decisions about reopening.
The Memorial Fund recommended, and Council approved, expending $15,000 for a number of requests, including funding about half of a video camera and controls setup that will give us much better capacity to stream our worship services. Council also approved starting a Virtual Team as part of our Worship ministry. The Virtual Team will train people to operate the equipment and create a schedule for the team.
God’s peace and the blessing of good health to all,
John O’Meara, President
Congregation Council
NOTE: Please contact Kim Bohley if you want a copy of the approved Council Minutes.
Facilities Planning Update
Facilities Planning (“FP”) continues its efforts to develop options for improvements to the church campus, in order to improve accessibility for people with mobility impairments as well as to correct functional deficiencies, address energy conservation issues and upgrade aesthetics. FP remains focused on design refinements related to the proposed toilet room and Sacristy addition, which if it were to proceed, would be appended to the northern side of the existing foyer area, to address underground utilities, driveway relocation, and other functional parameters and constraints expressed by ministry groups and members of the congregation. While the pandemic has slowed forward progress temporarily, FP will move forward with this project design over the next several months, as well as with its consideration of several other improvements intended to enhance accessibility within the church building for those who have physical and mobility impairments.
—David Barger, chair FP members: Steve Cathcart, Rene Cherson, Max Frable, Peter Jensen, Jim Merrill, Brian Sena